London - Dinara Safina defeated Amelie Mauresmo 4-6, 6-3, 6-
4 as the top seed made history by becoming the first player to win a
match with the new Wimbledon Centre Court roof, which closed Monday
due to a rain shower.
A sprinkling of moisture finally arrived to start the second week
- excuse enough for officials to close their new translucent toy and
allow the match to continue as an indoor contest.
Roger Federer fired past Robin Soderling for the second time in
three weeks, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to reach the men's quarter-
finals on the back of an 11-0 record in the series as the pair re-ran
the recent French Open final.
But the addition of lights on Centre Court ran out an infamous new
record with the latest-ever finish in history at nearly 10:45 pm
(2145 GMT).
Third seeded hero Andy Murray played for four hours into the night
before finally holding off a ferocious charge by Swiss Stan Wawrinka
2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to struggle into the last eight.
The Swiss, a frequent Murray practise partner, hammered his
backhand to perfection before Murray hung on by his fingernails with
a late break for 5-3 in the final set, which finally led to the great
escape.
The end came on an unsuccessful electronic challenge from
Wawrinka, which gave Murray two match points. The Scott slumped to
his knees on the first with a concluding winner.
'This was pretty special,' said an emotional Murray. 'Stan played
a great match, the standard he set was tough to keep up with. I had
chances in the fourth set and didn't take them. I was getting tired
at the end.
'There are so many momentum shifts in five-set matches but I
stayed tough. Playing under the roof was great, but having 15,000
people supporting you makes it extra special.'
The 2002 champion, Lleyton Hewitt, made his sixth career comeback
from two sets to love down, overcoming a thigh strain to put out
Radek Stepanek 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 just short of three hours.
Safina turned the tables after losing the first set and trailing a
break in the second. The number one also came back from 0-3 in the
third to deny 2006 champion Mauresmo the chance to continue her quest
for a second bite of the cherry at SW19.
'It's very nice to play under the roof, you can't compare it with
anything,' said Safina, on Centre Court for the first time and a
debut quarter-finalist at the All England Club.
Number two Serena Williams beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 while
third seed Venus Williams advanced over 13th seed Ana Ivanovic as the
2008 French Open winner had to retire in pain with a thigh injury to
hand over a 6-1, 0-1 victory to the American.
'I just only pay attention to what's going on on my side of the
net,' said Williams. 'But today I felt really sad for her actually.
She was really upset.'
Russian number four Elena Dementieva was untroubled by compatriot
Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3, while eighth seed Victoria Azarenka took out
Russian tenth seed Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3.
German Sabine Lisicki booked a surprise place in her first major
quarter-finals, with an upset of ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4,
6-4.
Men's fourth seed Novak Djokovic took a quiet win against Dudi
Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, while Croatian Ivo Karlovic knocked out seventh
seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) with 35
aces and winning into a match with Federer.
Federer is advancing in the business end of the event as he aims
to lift a sixth title in seven years and set a new all-time mark with
15 Grand Slam singles titles should he win the Sunday final again.
'Today was a serving contest, there were not a lot of rallies,'
said Federer. 'My form was great in the first week. Today was a
dangerous match.'
German Tommy Haas, the oldest man remaining in the field at 31,
reached the quarter-finals for the first time in his career with a
defeat of Russian Igor Andreev 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4.
USA
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